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"Less salt"

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I would recommened this to anyone looking for yummy beans for a cheaper price.

I have been purchasing the Tesco Value Baked Beans for about 6 months now. I am not a food snob so cannot find the difference between these and Heinz except for sauce which is a bit thinner in the Tesco Value Brand.
The packaging of the tin has been changed and is now a white and orange with pictures of baked beans on the top. I don't really care about packaging at all, because all packaging ends up in the recycling anyway.
The tin weighs 420 grams and I usually share a tin with my little one for lunch if we have beans on toast. To spice up the beans I always add a lot of black pepper and this greatly improves the flavour of the beans. I usually cook it on the hob but it can be heated up in the microwave in less than 2 minutes.
The biggest plus of the Tesco Value baked beans is that they contain less salt and sugar compared to other brands and this is the number one reason that I always chose them.
They cost 24 pence for a tin and are a bestseller in the baked bean aisle (a sticker under the shelf says so !)

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whats not to like for 24p!?

I am currently living a fun and frugal lifestyle trying to be a saver more than a spender! One of my most recent tips has been to try and buy everything supermarket value brand in a bid to cut costs on food shopping, and those items I find are just too awful, switching back to name brand. So far only one product has been a disappointment (Tesco wholegrain loops - daughter did NOT approve!) and so these beans have certainly been a winner!

A tin of Tesco Everyday Value beans only costs 24p for a 420g tin which in my eyes is an absolute bargain! Beans are so versatile for breakfast, lunch or dinner, be it with a jacket potato and cheese, some sausages and hashbrowns or simply on toast they are really filling and importantly, cheap and cheerful!

Tesco have now spruced up their packaging of the value range so it does not look as garish and cheap as before, with a simple white banner, and a picture of some beans. Personally I am no snob so I'm not too fussed about what the tin looks like anyway!

Opening the tin is a bit basic, theres no fancy 21st central pull ring function, so it's time for me to fetch my rusty tin opener and get to work. This can be a bit messy as at the top, there always seems to be for some reason an overflow of "bean juice" (not sure of the official term!) which can over spill so I try to hover the tin directly over the pan/bowl the beans will be going into as soon as most of the lid is open. Inside, there is quite a plethora of haricot beans (44%) which are very orangey in colour, and somewhat smaller than Heinz beans but still the tin is rather large so I always find there are far too many than me and my daughter could ever consume in one sitting! Generally, I find these beans can make 3 decent sized portions, so at 8p a portion between 2 people that's some serious savings!

Taste wise the beans can be bland, but I have always found tinned beans to be like this, so I always spruce them up by frying some onions, and adding in black pepper and all purpose seasoning for some flavour so these are great for this. The texture of the beans are soft and rich, as I'd expect baked beans to be and so in this respect, they are perfect.

On the whole I think these are great value for how filling and economical they are, so I have to give them 5 stars!

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Bit bland but perfectly edible

I like to buy cheaper where I can and often buy Tesco 'Everyday Value' especially since their upgrade from plain 'Value'. I often re buy their baked beans even though they're not the best of things; it's the price of 24p for 420g that entices me.......

24p doesn't sound particularly cheap (they used to be 9p then shot up a bit at a time) but it's all relative, compared to other brands these are dirt cheap. Tesco own brand are 45p and the leader is 68p for 415g so quite a difference.

The tin is updated from the old 'Value' white, blue and red it's now beige with relevant red and orange food pictures depicted; the label just says 'Everyday Value' baked beans in tomato sauce. The ingredients and other info is printed on the back, these contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. It's easy to spot on the shelf amongst the other brands but not so easy to spot at home if there are several Everyday Value tins in the cupboard- especially if their backs are turned. There isn't a ring pull opening on these, they need to opened the old fashioned way with a tin opener.

So Everyday Value contain less percentage of beans, this is evident when you open them; the tin is full to the brim with sauce maybe an inch layer before you get to the beans. The sauce is really thin and doesn't coat the beans rather the beans just swim in it. I have to use a slotted spoon to dish the beans up, otherwise the plate or toast is soaked with it. It tastes okay, it's not richly flavoured however it does just about taste like a tomato beans sauce.

The beans themselves are firm and small, again they taste okay- a little hard but okay. The tin isn't packed with them but enough for two portions.

For the cost of them they're good enough, not the nicest of beans but certainly edible.

3 stars

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Good value beans

Recently I have been trying to reduce my weekly shopping bill, as I really enjoy baked beans thought one way would be to try these Tesco Everyday Value beans.My first comment is that the packaging while in the Everyday Value brand does the job. The tin is as thick as the more expensive brands, and the label clearly says what is in the tin. However there is no ring pull. So is you are going to try them a can opener is needed. I tired the 420g tin which is under 30p - the price does seem to vary depending on the size of the Tesco Supermarket.

First time I decided to try them on slice of toast. As soon as the tin was open I could see a container full of baked beans - there was the expected baked bean smell. The tin was full. On pouring I noticed that the mixture is more runny - with more sauce than a more expensive brand. But after heating the thickness seemed the about the same... perhaps a little thinner...the extra was drained off. The beans were hot after about 3 - 4 minutes on a gas hob.As for the taste - at first these Everyday Value Beans tasted a little more salty than what I was used too but still great. The sauce tasted a little less as well. However I really enjoyed my beans on toast.

Calorie wise, the Tesco's Everyday Value beans are not as say Heniz. Overall these are good value beans that I will be trying again.

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A versatile and quick snack food.

Having two boys who seem constantly hungry, and have bottomless pits for stomachs, I find having a well-stocked food cupboard an essential. I don't like spending a fortune unnecessarily so have been buying these value beans for a while now. They come in the relatively new everyday value packaging which has pink lettering and a picture of a bowl of baked beans on the front, which is much more appealing than the old blue and white stripped design. They are a very handy staple to have in the cupboard and in any food storage. They are very nice and plump haricot beans in a pleasant tomato sauce which although on the relative thin side it is not too thin. I generally use these in cow boy beans or barbeque beans so the sauce consistency is perfect as I add extra spices to increase the flavour. However when we have a cooked breakfast we have them simply warmed in a saucepan and there are never any complaints. You can use a microwave if you wish to warm these up. You just need to place them in a microwavable bowl and cover, I use cling film wrap and poke a small hole in it. Then microwave on full power for two minutes then stir and then microwave for a further two minutes. Heating on the hob takes around 4-5 minutes stirring frequently to prevent sticking.

The tin is very reasonably priced; it is 28p for 420g which is a remarkable price and great for a quick lunch, especially as the days are becoming colder.

Beans are a great source protein and a great low calorie, highly filling meal. It's great as a side dish or a main meal. My kid's favourite meal is cowboy beans which I make with a tin of baked beans, onions, mixed bell pepper, chilli peppers and cayenne and paprika, with Worchester sauce and sugar. My sons love it and you can make it as spicy as you wish and it makes a wonderful winter warmer. I occasionally add kidney beans and smoked sausage or diced pork. Another great winter recipe is baked bean soup, spicy or not it tastes lovely. My kids also enjoy these as a simple and quick lunch of beans on toast or on a baked potato with cheese. These are extremely versatile and convenient and it is a constant in my larder. There are so many dishes that can be produced from a tin of baked beans that they are perfect for a food storage item. They can also be eaten straight out of the tin. Not entirely appealing but it does mean it is ideal for emergencies and camping when cooking may not be practical. Although these can be cooked in the tin, simply open the tin and place the tin in the fire until warmed. When we camp out, we wrap jacket potatoes in foil and place them in the fire pit or barbeque and when they are close to being done we place an open tin of beans into the fire too. Make sure the tin is open and it is placed near to the edge of the fire and not directly in the flames and there is a risk of it exploding. Please be very careful if you do this and use tongs to retrieve them from the fire.

There are not normally any left in the tin in my house but if there are any they need to be transferred to a non-metallic dish and kept in fridge for no more than two days.

We have been buying these for ages now and have no problem with them.Admittedly they might have a bit more sauce/juice but no-one finds that a problem.We have often bought Heinz or Branstan beans when on offer and do not find them any better - in fact I think we prefer our value ones now as they are what we are more used to!We keep a stock of tins as we live in the country and son often has beans on toast or with a fried breakfast - and I too like beans and cheese on toast and a bean bake with mash and cheese.Apart form quite a bit of liquid you never seem to get 'hard' beans which I have had with some other makes - so it is not as if you are eating rubbish - if that was the case we would have upgraded back to another brand.

---Would I recommend?---

Yes definitely - this seems a very good product and I can find no fault with it.

---Star Rating---

5 stars - no problems.

---Website---

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/

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Do not buy unless you enjoy eating stones!

Tesco do a lot (obviously) of value products and for the majorly cheap prices who can complain? Well, I'm sorry but these tesco value baked beans in tomato sauce are certainly something to complain about.

These were actually recommended to me so I thought I'd give the 420g tins a try and bought 10 cans, buying in bulk - something I like to do from time to time. The packaging is very basic but then again you dont really care about the packaging if it helps keeps the costs down :D

Cook them in the microwave or on the hob in a saucepan, I've tried both ways and find that microwaving actually gave better results which I wasn't expecting. Still not good enough though, I might add.

The tomato sauce that the beans come in is very sweet and very runny, so not to my taste. But once you've cooked them for a long amount of time you can reduce the sauce a little bit. The actual beans themselves though taste so very hard, I joke that they are as hard as bullets. Therefore I nnow call them tesco value baked bullets :D Whether I cook them for a short time (and get runny sauce) or for a long amount of time (where the sauce goes thicker at LAST) they are still hard and not as beans are meant to be. I'd pretty much recommend the whole rest of tesco's value products, but not these little pebbles.

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Good but not amazing

Over the last few years my family have taken on a healthier (supposedly) way of living and thus items like crisps, chips and biscuits have largely been banned from our home. In reality baked beans and cheese on toast are now an alternative to the usual snacks.

In terms of the price of baked beans I and my family have recently been purchasing the Tesco value baked beans. The packaging I am glad to say have actually changed from the very basic blue red and white to a more modern photograph of the product which I am sure has encouraged purchase over more recent years.

The beans themselves I believe have the same texture and taste as any other baked bean product I have purchased from any other supplier; however there is a lot more sauce than beans I find and the sauce aren't nearly as rich or tomatoes than other baked beans I have eaten in the past. The sauce is a lot sweeter and artificial tasting which is why I would usually eat it with some grated cheese with it.

They are far from inedible and I think they are decent value for money considering the economic climate at 28p per tin compared to Heinz which range somewhere in the region of 3 pounds for 4 tins.

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Why pay more?

Baked beans are a great accompaniment to a lot of meals, and we do get through quite a few in our house - they are a quick and tasty snack or light lunch with chicken nuggets or toast! So I have tried and tested many different makes of baked beans.

With money being tight we have started to try lots of the "Value" range at Tesco and I haven't been disappointed.

When you open the tin you see the beans in the sauce. The beans are the same shape and size as many of the more expensive brands, and the sauce looks nice and red, shiny, juicy and thick. It didn't seem too runny as I had expected when looking at the price of 29p per tin.

Once heated I do find the beans stay a little harder than some brands, but this doesn't affect the taste experience at all. The sauce is quite rich and creamy unlike how I expected it to be - in fact I don't think I could actually tell the difference between this brand and some of the more expensive brands.

All in all I would highly recommend the baked beans. They don't lack in taste and at the price they are sold at (29p) they are a cheap, tasty treat.

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Good value.

These beans come in the standard Tesco Value can that is identifiable by the blue and white stripes and the "VALUE" logo on the front. The can contains 420g of baked beans in tomato sauce and costs just 27p compared to the traditional Heinz version and 65p - a saving of almost 150% which is pretty fantastic value.

For me, when it comes to whether a "value" brand is good value, I like to compare it against the market leader in the field - and obviously in this case, this means comparing them against Heinz. We have already established that the price is far better for the Tesco Value range, but obviously its really important how they compare on taste and overall quality.

Heating the beans on the hob takes about two minutes and, in my opinion, Tesco Value beans are really not that all different from the Heinz version. The beans are soft without being squishy and they are identifiable as individual entities(!) unlike those beans that you sometimes get in greasy spoon cafes that look more like mushy peas than baked beans. The sauce is rich and tomatoey and, although I was say it is slightly thinner than the Heinz version, it is just as tasty. Its very tomatoey and tastes a little sweet - but I quite like the sweetness with the beans as I'm definitely not a fan of the low-sugar varieties. Again I would say that compared to the Heinz version, there is more sauce in this product and therefore less beans, but again, this is not something that I have an issue with as I like having lots of sauce to dip the rest of my food in.

Having looked at the nutritional information, I have to say that this version of baked beans seems to be not as nutritionally sound as the Heinz version. I have to say that this version compares quite favourably to the Heinz version with 100g of the product giving 50 calories (compared to 79 calories), 0.62g of salt (compared to 0.7g) and comparable low quantities of fat and sugar.

Overall, I will continue to buy these value beans as I can't see any reason to pay for more when the quality of these beans seems pretty good.

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Will be trying again but wouldn't switch from Heinz to Tesco as Heinz are much better quality

I've always loved baked beans, and have bein a Heinz fan since i was little. There's something about the sweetness of the sauce, yet it still tastes savoury and fills you up nicely after even half a can. As i'm now a student, i'm always looking to cut back, even if it's only slightly, on most products. At almost 64p for a 415G can of Heinz's baked beans in most supermarkets, it can soon add up and get slightly expensive if you're a big fan of them.

As a regular tesco customer with a good eye for a bargain, I spotted there value baked beans a few weeks back. They weren't that hard to miss and were packaged in a distinctive Tesco blue and white striped tin. At 28p for a large 420g tin, they're more than half the price of the Heinz version and look just as yummy, with the picture on the front showing a heaped spoonful of them.

Once I got home from my Tesco shop at dinner time, I decided i'd try them with a slice of toast. This is where the first disadvantage comes - there is no ring pull. I dug out my can opener and upon opening it I was greeted by the classic baked bean smell. I noticed it was full to the brim with tomatoe sauce, definetly more so than Heinz. I emptied the contents into a pan, seeing there was definetly a visiblely large sauce to beans ratio and also spying that the sauce was alot runnier than Heinz. I cooked for 3 minutes until piping hot. By now the sauce seemed to of slightly thickened. I emptied half of it into a bowl, draining off a small amount of sauce before doing so, and accompanied it with a slice of toast and sat down to enjoy.

Upon my first mouthful of the beans, I felt they tasted slightly saltier than my usual Heinz, and didn't have the 'sweet' hint to them that i usually enjoy. They weren't overpoweringly salty, however, just noticeably more than Heinz. The sauce was weak in texture and taste but not enough so to put me off. I easily finished the meal and felt full and satisfied afterwards. I did enjoy them but feel they were lacking in the flavour I was used to and the texture wasn't quite the same.

I'll definetly be trying them again but wouldn't completely switch from Heinz to Tesco as i felt the quality of the tesco beans were no where upto Heinz's standards, but were good value for the price and i'd probably get used to them after a while.

Ingredients wise, there seems to be only a few differences. The percentage of beans in the Heinz 415g was 51%, while the perentage of beans in the 420g Tesco can was a slightly smaller 44%. Also, Heinz use real tomatoes, while Tesco use Tomato puree. There are various additives in the Tesco version, such as Glucose-Fructose Syrup Solution, Modified Maize Starch and flavourings that aren't listed. The only additive in the Heinz version is Modified Cornflour. Calorie wise, Tesco's beans aren't extremely low, but are reasonable, at around 105 calories per half a tin. This is 60 calories less than the same portion size of Heinz's beans.

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Good value product for cost cutting

Recently we have decided to have a bit of a cut back to see actually how much money we can save, as a result I thought we could try these Tesco value baked beans instead of our usual branded variety. Some may say that we are taking our credit crunching a bit too far going from one extreme to another, but I certainly thought it was worth a try seeing how much cheaper this product is.

~ The Packaging ~

The labelling of this product isn't exactly attractive with the easily recognisable value range including the Tesco blue barcode image, however I wasn't particularly bothered with how pretty and colourful the label is, simply because I was only interested in the beans inside and whether or not they would be comparable alternative.

Unfortunately the can design doesn't include a ring pull so you will need a can opener to access the beans, however this would no doubt increase it's price by adding fancy extras.

~ Price and Availability ~

As this is a value range product, the price really does reflect this. Priced at only £0.28 for a 420g tin this is very low price, as a comparison Tesco normal own brand baked beans sell at £0.35 for the same quantity, and the main brand leader at £0.64 for a 415g tin. The price between the Tesco value and the Tesco normal brand isn't a great difference, however if you were buying a few tins at a time you would no doubt notice the financial gain.As stated this is a Tesco Value product so is only available from Tesco stores or through their online site.

~ Nutritional Information~

Each tin serves 2 people, giving each a serving of 210g.

This size serving contains:

Calories 105kcals Sugar 9g Fat 1g Saturated Fat Trace Salt 1.3g

This product is suitable for vegetarians.

~ What is it like? ~

In total honesty I wasn't expecting these to be the best tasting baked beans simply because of them being a value brand, however they were a lot nicer than originally assumed.

The tin was pretty much full to the lid which was a bonus as there was a good quantity for the money. The sauce was a rich orangey red colour which did actually smell of tomatoes when I opened the can. The taste of the sauce was impressive, with the tomatoes clearly evident. I did find that the sauce wasn't quite as thick in consistency as the leading brands, with it being quite runny, which was a little disappointing.As the tin was emptied into the saucepan I did notice that the balance of baked beans to sauce, seemed to be more in the favour of the sauce. There seemed to be a lot more sauce than beans, which personally I am not a fan of. For the money though I couldn't really complain as there was a reason they were cheaper and clearly less beans equals a cheaper product.

Overall I would probably recommend this product if you are looking for a cheap alternative, however I think there was just too much sauce and not enough beans for my liking, so consequently I'm sure we'll stick with our usual brand.

This review may also appear on Ciao under the same name.

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Another good product in the tesco Value range

Baked beans and other tinned goods were the first victims of my shopping budget overhaul simply because they are initially easier than other products to downshift immediately. In fact my cupboards are a walking advert for value ranges (mainly Tesco because thats where I tend to shop) I originally brought a couple of other big brands and downshifted to Tesco own brand before taking the plunge to the value range (a sneaky way of drip feeding the family into value produce)

The baked beans (like all of the Tesco value products) are in a distinctive blue stripped tin (420g) and cost about 29pence per tin. On price value alone this is extremely good even compared to Tesco's other own branded beans. There is a noticeable differance if compared to major brands such as the sauce being of a thinner consistency, the tomato taste is not as predominant and the beans themselves are not quite as "squidgy" but none of these differances are relevent enough to persuade me to stop buying them.

When the tin is opened it at first apoears that it is mainly full of sauce and no beans but once tipped out and mixed together it is quite clear that the bean to sauce ratio is pretty much the same as any other brand. The taste is actually quite nice but (as stated before) the strong tomato flavour just isnt there, something I feel Tesco could improve on (but then if thicker sauce and stronger flavour constituted in more additives then i'd rather they just did'nt bother). I have checked the ingredients list and nutrional value and (contrary to poular beliefs that value and budget products are watered down and/or contain a greater number of additives) this dosent seem to be the case.

Although there are a few minor areas that could be improved on (they probably wont because it would mean an increase in price which would defeat the title of "value") I would recommend this product because it is great if on a tight budget and/or looking to reduce your shopping bill and if some members of the family still have a stigma about using value products then dont show them the tin!

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In the case of these beans, the less you pay, the less you get.

~~~Introduction:~~~~

Now I reckon I am a connoisseur of baked beans. Only because, in the days when a bag of batter scraps from the local chippy was free and wages were low; I spent the first few years of my time away from home and the luxury of mum's home cooking, eating baked beans on toast, mainly for tea and occasionally as my main midday meal. Then, of course, Heinz had little or no competition.

I still enjoy the occasional snack of beans on toast, but nothing near as frequently as in my youth, and I have shed the reputation of being the only member of the family whose most important kitchen implements were a saucepan and tin opener.

Before I get down to giving my opinion of Tesco Value beans, I would like to tell a little of what I have learned about baked beans in general.

The first and surprising piece of info I discovered in a lecture by a nutritionist long ago, was that a meal of Baked Beans on toast was a perfectly balanced meal. Yep. Just baked beans on toast, for it contained a perfect balance of vitamins, minerals and fibre. To add egg, bacon or anything else would make it a less well-balanced meal; therefore, it is not surprising that I did so well on that meager meal for so long?

A perfect balance in a meal is the same as a perfect balance in cake making. Too much or too little of one ingredient and the balance has been altered and cake ruined.

Having said that, it would not be wise or healthy to live on beans on toast entirely.

Heinz now has considerable competition to their traditional baked beans, and I have tried most of them, Tesco own brand included.I paid 29p for a 420g tin of Tesco brand baked beans, much less than for Heinz or Branston brands.

~~~~Tesco Baked beans~~~~

~~Contents:~~ I have listed the contents of the haricot beans, but a tin of baked beans, whatever the brand, contains a few more additives, such as tomato paste, sugar from corn syrup, onion, Sodium, pepper, spices and paprika flavourings.It is the quality and amounts of these additions that separate the quality and taste between different brands.

Tesco Value baked beans main ingredients consist of 44% beans and 26% tomato paste. Compare this with another leading brand which contain 51% beans and 34% tomatoes.

The most disturbing discovery I made, when reading all the writing on the label a little more thoroughly than usual, - and this is where I briefly go off on a tangent - is that the additives contains artificial sweeteners.

Without diving head long into a boring chemistry lecture, I have to say that although the contents on the label do state that the sugar is a glucose-fructose syrup. What is not clear is that this syrup is a manufactured sweetener with different properties to that of ordinary sugar (sucrose) which is also a glucose-fructose compound. However the former is made from cornstarch and has a completely different structure, and properties, to that of the sucrose, it's ratio of glucose: fructose is 45:55 whereas sucrose is a 50:50 ratio. In short, the sugar added to baked beans is commonly described as HFCS (High-fructose corn syrup) an unnatural, man-made sugar substitute, cheaper to produce and use than sucrose extracted from sugar cane and beet.

Recent research into HFCS suggests that it enhances the appetite, significantly contributes to obesity and increases the deposition of fat around vital organs in the body. This sweetener is also found in a multitude of other foodstuffs. Ketchup, Yogurts, soft drinks, to name but a few.

I have added this extra bit of info here because I thought it the perfect place to increase public awareness of the uses of unnatural sugars being added to our food and that some manufacturers are hiding the facts in the name of economy at the expense of health. Hats off to Tesco though, for honestly describing their sugar content as "glucose -fructose syrup."Heinz, incidentally disguise the fact that they use HFCS by listing their sweetening ingredient as "sugars." Frightening, is it not?

~~~~Back to Tesco value baked beans~~~~

All that is required to make a perfectly balanced snack then is a saucepan, or microwave, one tin opener and a toaster. Real butter or butter substitute, and of course a tin of baked beans.

The beans, as everyone knows are already cooked (hence the name - baked beans - and so they can be eaten straight from the tin. However I wouldn't advise that, the edge of the can is extremely sharp and might catch your knuckles as you delve for the last bean.

To make a warm snack, empty the baked beans into the saucepan and heat to a temperature that suits. Some prefer them warm, others - hot. Make and liberally butter some toast, pour the beans over the toast and tuck in - Simple.Although it is recommended that the beans are not brought to the boil, I tend to ignore that bit of advice, in the name of comfort, because it is my belief that, by bringing the beans just to the boil, it does - putting it as delicately as possible - eliminate the "Flatulence-factor." Either that or my digestive system is better than most.

I find the taste of microwaved baked beans not as good as those heated in a saucepan, probably because I tend to overheat them in the microwave.If not all the contents can be used after opening the tin, the remainder should be transferred to a dish, covered and refrigerated.

For anyone interested in the approximate calorific value of a typical beans on toast snack: The calorific value of half the contents (210g) is 105 calories. Two slices of bread would be approximately another 200 calories, plus about 100 calories for the butter, depending on which butter and how much is used.

~~~~My opinion~~~~I admire Tesco's deceptively honest description of the ingredients in their Value Baked beans.I have not yet found a cheaper tin of baked beans, but my feeling is that you do get what you pay for. 29p is good value, but, when comparing it with other brands, the tomato paste was more watery, and a tad too salty for my liking.For the purpose of this review, I have splashed out on a small tin of Heinz baked beans to compare the difference in colour of the sauces the vast difference in the amount of liquid in each.

In the Tesco Value beans the calorific value per 100g is on 45 Kcal. In the well-known brands it is around 79 Kcal per 100g. Tesco do sell better quality tins of baked beans, similar in quality and price to that of other brands.

~~~~The Taste test~~~~

With the Tesco Value beans the taste of paprika in the sauce was very dominant.Perhaps this was because the balance of sauce and beans was a little too uneven and the sauce flavour overpowered the beans.

In conclusion then, The Tesco Value baked beans are lower in price, calories and quality, higher in liquid content. The taste is okay, but not as good as Heinz I have to say. As far as health value is concerned, because of its addition of sweeteners I would put it at zero. I really should only award it two stars, but I'm feeling generous.

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A cheap store cupboard staple to help save the pennies

This is one item that we make sure is always stocked in the kitchen cupboards in our house, but oddly enough it is not one of my favourite foods and I would much prefer to open a tin of spaghetti to go with my Sunday morning fry-up. The reason I keep buying these is that my boyfriend eats beans and me being me I would rather buy the cheaper version.

I find that Tesco Value beans are a bit like Marmite, you either love 'em, or hate 'em. But me being me, I'm slap bang in the middle with these beans, I don't like 'em but I don't hate 'em.

On opening the tin the first thing you notice is that when compared to Heinz they don't smell as tomatoey (I know it's not a word, but you know what I mean). Then when you pour them into the pan the first thing that comes out of the tin is a very, very thin and watery liquid. Even when you have poured the whole tin out you are still left with a thin, watery liquid which the beans aren't able to disguise. I always cook these at a slightly higher temperature then I would with other brands to attempt to thicken the sauce, but most times this doesn't work.

I also find that these beans brake up more then other brands and I quite often have a mound of mushy beans, rather then whole ones.

Luckily I much prefer eating beans with either a good dollop of brown sauce mixed in or strong chedder cheese mixed in. The cheese also does the job of thickening the sauce of up, and I find they taste a whole lot better like this. So even though I've made the watery sauce seem like a bad point, for me it isn't due to me adding other stuff.

Price wise these are perfect as a tin of 420g are only 29p, which I think is a fantastic price for a traditional kitchen cupboard staple.